My professional life is deeply shaped by startup experiences in Gurgaon’s booming startup culture. Although I worked with several traditional corporate offices, my heart always leaned toward my first startups Desiya Online Travel.

While passing out of college, I dreamed of working at companies born in basements or garages like Apple, Google etc. That dream became reality at my very first company, Desiya Online Travel Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon. We truly worked at a basement startup, operating from founder Amit Taneja’s DLF Phase 2 bungalow.

Desiya was transforming the travel and hospitality industry, especially hotel bookings, long before it became mainstream in India. At that time, most travel companies focused on flights and tour packages, not online hotel booking platforms.

Life at Desiya reflected true startup culture, intense focus, ownership, and deep commitment to building something meaningful. We stayed glued to our systems, fully wired to deliver quality software and meet ambitious goals.

Timeless Moments:

To stay motivated, we played brain games like chess and shared creative activities during intense workdays. Our desks became our world, where we worked, ate, and sometimes slept during late-night production releases.

Desiya was among the first to build technology focused only on hotels, even before MakeMyTrip emphasised it. I still remember saying, I saw more cars parked in society than in my hometown, Sarni, Madhya Pradesh.

High-energy team discussions helped us rethink workloads and solve complex problems collaboratively. Guidance from Deepak, Amit and Doley Sir shaped our thinking, discipline, and approach to technology.

I built lifelong friendships with Ranjan, Sourabh, Pavan, Sushil, Anjana, Suresh, and many others. That phase defined my understanding of startup life, where everything felt possible with the right mindset.

The next big thing we build during my time Desiya thru technology, was a true game-changer in India hotel domain. Even today, I wish to relive that startup life for just two or three years again.

I still believe startups have the power to redefine the Indian business ecosystem through bold, focused innovation.

Captured Moments: Highlights from the Memoir

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